Need a last-minute primer on Scotland's vote? Here's what you should know.

Scotland's voters arrive at polling places in Edinburgh, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2014. Polls opened across Scotland in a referendum that will decide whether the country leaves its 307-year-old union with England and becomes an independent state.

David Cheskin/AP

View photo

In Scotland, weeks of debate over everything from oil to currency to tartans have ended, and the country is poised to answer a question that has riveted Britain: “Should Scotland be an independent country?”

While the vote – the results of which will be announced Friday – is tinted in Scottish nationalist sentiment, the independence movement is steeped in history and tough questions about what an independent Scotland would look like, both at home and around the world. Here’s a look at what issues that have faced Scots, Britons, and Europeans in the lead-up to the vote.

And then there’s Doctor Who. Should Scotland decide to break with Britain, its relationship with the BBC – and indeed, the country's whole cultural industry – would be thrown into turmoil.

“Questions about the BBC's standing in an independent Scotland speak to a larger uncertainty about how a ‘yes’ vote would affect not only broadcasting options but the wider cultural sector,” writes Monitor correspondent Peter Geoghegan. “While some see a boon, others are worried about the prospect of ripping things up and starting again – and question whether the Scottish National Party (SNP) would help foster the kind of robust media atmosphere that Britain enjoys.”

But the bid for a Scottish breakaway may hinge on voter turnout. “A high turnout on Sept. 18 is likely to benefit the nationalist camp, which wants Scotland to go it alone,” writes Mr. Geoghegan. “The ‘No’ camp can draw on its strengths in the electoral machinery of the Labour Party.”

And that voter turnout will include Scotland’s newly enfranchised youth – 16- and 17-year-olds allowed to vote under the terms of the referendum, casting a ballot for the first time in a major UK election. While many expect a resounding ‘yes’ from this young crop of voters, experts say that may not be the case.

Monitor editor-at-large John Yemma weighed in, writing that the Age of Empire is over but the Age of Enlightenment – born in England – remains a work in progress in a world still struggling with intolerance, superstition, fear, and aggression.

“If Britannia no longer rules, its best ideas – reason and independence of thought – still should.”